Author Topic: Railings  (Read 7186 times)

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Ken

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Railings
« on: 28 November 2010, 01:16:14 »
Hello,
     My name is Ken and I'm wondering what methods some of you use to attatch the railings to the styrene superstructure?   I'm working on a partial kit of the Trien Maersk I found at a flea market.
                                                                                Thanks in Advance,  Ken

Offline colin

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Re: Railings
« Reply #1 on: 28 November 2010, 12:47:18 »
i suppose your talking about the Brassetched Railing?

personally i use the method mentioned in the instructions... soldering iron on the stanchion and heat sink it into the plastic.

Offline colin

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Re: Railings
« Reply #2 on: 28 November 2010, 15:00:41 »
on my Liz Terkol, i drilled 0.3 Holes first of all, then heat sinked the stanchion, threaded the brass rod, then fixed the brass rod in place, then i removed the Railings and painted them... once the superstructure was compleat the railings were then replaced...

Offline karlgalster

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Re: Railings
« Reply #3 on: 29 November 2010, 15:43:13 »
Slight change of direction with this thread  but I think some comment on deck railings is in order. On my two destroyers I found that the melting in of the brass etched sections of deck edge railing using a soldering iron was impractical due to the fact that you need styrene deck under the "stanchions" for the method to work. The hull is of course glass fibre of variable thickness and to give a good finish to the  deck there needs to be a variable deck width of filler of some type. On actual ship photos the stanchions are very close to the deck edge so the model "stanchions" need to be as close as possible to the deck edge - no more than say 2mm in order to avoid the railings looking unrealistic  On my models I have found that 2mm from the deck edge is by and large either filler or glass fibre.

My method is to use a small drill in a pin vice and drill holes one or two at a time whilst "offering up" a section of railing. Eventually you will have a complete section of brass etched railing catered for. Then I use a spot of slow cure Superglue per "stanchion" and press the complete section home. All railings airbrush painted before fitting with the "stanchions" picked out in matt black for HMS Kelly.
Works for me :)
Probably best to practice this on a bit of scrap material before drilling your pride and joy. :'(
Robin
« Last Edit: 29 November 2010, 15:45:46 by karlgalster »

Offline hotjava

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Re: Railings
« Reply #4 on: 08 December 2010, 05:32:31 »
Hi Robin, Colin and Ken,

What an incredibly timed topic!  I was working on the bow of my HMS Kelly and I wondered where the stanchions would go!  I plan to use the "drill a hole and superglue" method.

Thanks for the information,
Oliver


Offline karlgalster

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Re: Railings
« Reply #5 on: 08 December 2010, 12:34:14 »
Word of warning - at the bow make sure you drill a maximum hole depth of 2mm otherwise there is a danger of drilling out of the ship's side due to the flare of the hull :'(
Another thought - the bow handrails terminate at the most forward point of the bow's point with the "bull ring" which is used for passing mooring hawsers through. On an actual ship the bull ring appears to at the very end of the bow. The Kelly kit has a white metal bull ring but I could not work out how to locate this where it should be due to minimal deck area to bond it so. I could have drilled and bonded a bit of brass rod into the underside of the bull ring to give the bond to the deck extra strength but the shape of bow at that point would have made drilling into it very difficult to accomplish without damaging the bow. I compromised by setting the bull ring back from the point of the bow by about 3mm but it does not look right. Perhaps you can devise a better solution Oliver.
Robin
« Last Edit: 08 December 2010, 12:36:45 by karlgalster »

Offline hotjava

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Re: Railings
« Reply #6 on: 09 December 2010, 06:54:55 »
Hi Robin,

Thanks for the information regarding rail drilling and the bull ring.  I'll watch out for that and see if I have a solution to the bull ring problem.  If not, I'll just copy what you did.   :)

Take care and thanks for the information,
Oliver